


Meet and Greet

by OriginalCrazyCatLady



Category: Far Cry (Video Games), Far Cry 5
Genre: But we'll see how it turns out, F/M, Future Relationships, Gen, I don't really know what I'm doing in this story, Kidnapping, Medical Procedures, Multi, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Rivalry, Slow Burn, Stockholm Syndrome, future smut, really slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 17:36:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17985644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OriginalCrazyCatLady/pseuds/OriginalCrazyCatLady
Summary: Gertie's sister invites her to a meet and greet to see her new life with Eden's Gate in their hometown of Hope County. While excited to see her sister and friends again, Eden's Gate gives her an uneasy feeling. Is she right in assuming their motives are shady?She's certainly about to find out.





	1. The Invitation

**Author's Note:**

> This is set more at what I would call the beginning of the "Project at Eden't Gate", when they were still the new age group that no one saw as much of a threat.
> 
> I will also say that the rating will change later as there will be eventual smut and relationships with the Seed men, it might just take a smidge of time to get to that point.
> 
> The chapters are shorter as I haven't really written anything like this before, so apologies if it's not great, but I had the idea in my head and I wanted to get it down on paper.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

“Not gonna happen."

"Aww, come on Gert, you might like it! They have some interesting ideas about the future and everybody's welcome like family here. I really want you to meet everyone…. Pleeease?” Whitney whined.

Gertie, rolled her eyes at her sister, even if she couldn't see her do it, she felt like their heightened sibling awareness of each other might make her annoyance known through the phone.

“It's a pretty long drive sis, I'm not sure I can get the time off work for that kind of trip.”

"Oh come on! You never take time off, and the meet and greet would only be for a day. After it's done you can do whatever you want, you can leave, or hang out with me, or get into some trouble around town."

"HA! Trouble in Hope County? Likely story Whit.” She sighed. "Fine... I think I have some vacation time banked or something, what day is it again?"

"YES! I win! It's next Saturday."

“Alright, as long as nothing crazy happens at the hospital I'll should be there with bells on.”

“Thank you! Thank you, Thank you! You're gonna love it, I just know it! Alright, I should go, but I'll see you soooon. “She cooed. 

"Party on Wayne". Gertie said with a smile as she plopped down on her couch.

"Party on Garth. Love you. Bye."

Gertie's smile grew wide thinking about the farewell, she and Whit saw Wayne's world when they were kids, and from then on they desperately wanted to have their own cable access show in their basement. She was Garth and Whitney was Wayne, because not only did the first letters of their names match the characters, but Gertie had the same thick glasses that Garth did in the movie- so it was a perfect fit.

Her smile turned to a frown though as she was jolted from wandering down memory lane, of all things Gertie didn't want to do next weekend, going back to Hope Country was on the top of her list. Sure she had had a pretty good childhood while growing up there, but it was a small place where everyone knew each other’s business, and unless you like watching trees grow there wasn't much in the way of entertainment.

She had left her family there to go medical school in Missoula when she was 24 and after moving had only been back for the high holidays, and even less in the past year since her mother had passed away. She tried to convince her sister to move to the city with her after the funeral, but Whitney had found some other group of people to hang onto there- The Project at Eden's Gate. 

From her understanding, it was a bit of a cult-like group, but her sister seemed happy and was surrounded by a seemingly caring community so it probably wasn't as weird as she was thinking it was. It made sense to her that Whit had fallen in with the group so quickly though, she was always more of a follower than a leader, at least next weekend she would be able to check on her in person.

Gathering herself from her thoughts, Gertie reached over and grabbed the TV remote and switched it on for background noise, then set up her laptop on the coffee table and began writing the email to her supervisor to beg for time off.


	2. Coming Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gertie makes her way to Hope County and encounters some friendly familiar faces.

She had set off for Hope County on the Friday afternoon of the following week. Her plan was to get to Mary May's Friday night, go to the meet and greet on Saturday, get some R&R on Sunday and Monday, then head back to the city on Tuesday. Keeping the visit short and sweet.

Although she wasn't totally excited to go back to the dull county, she was a little giddy to see some of her old friends. She was going to be staying with Mary May so that checked one friend off the visit list. Hopefully Nick and Grace would be around too. She'd even settle for seeing Sharky if he wasn't in jail or hadn't burnt himself to a crisp by now. 

The drive to Hope County, was as long and as boring as she expected to be, but she did feel her heart jump a bit when she saw the roughed up sign welcoming her to the county. Going by the sign alone, even for as long as she'd been away, her home seemed to be exactly as she'd left it.

It was just about dusk when she pulled up to Spread Eagle. She had just stepped out of her car when she heard the door to the bar open and slam shut, footsteps heading in her direction.

"Well, well, well, look who's back in town."  
"Mary!” Gertie ran around her car and nearly tackled the woman to the ground with a hug, but Mary May caught herself before taking a tumble. 

"I'm so glad to see you!"

"Me too darlin', come inside there are a couple of people who've been itching to say hi."

You grabbed your bags from the trunk and quickly headed into the bar, it was exactly the same as she'd remembered. The tacky beer signs everywhere, the taxidermy on the walls, the smell of greasy bar food, she breathed it in deeply while standing in the doorway. 

She didn't stay in her reverie for long because in the center of the room crowding around one of the oak tables were Grace and Nick, and a woman she didn't recognize. Gertie squealed and dropped her bags and ran over to Nick to give him a big hug. He stood up and picked her off the ground while giving her a bear hug, once he put her down she shot over to Grace and gave her shoulder a squeeze of acknowledgment, knowing Grace wasn't one much for hugs.

“I can't believe you're both here! You're like the only three people I wanted to see while I was here and you just fell right into my lap.” Gertie pulled out a chair and sat at the table they were crowding, leaning back and letting go of the tension she didn't realize was in her shoulders.

“Well when Mary told us you were comin' we knew we had to get our time in early, figured you wouldn't be sticking around long.” Nick said, giving a playful punch to her arm.

“Yeah, we figured you'd be in and out as soon as you took care of whatever business you had here, so we cleared our schedule.” Grace said, looking down and picking the beer label off of the bottle encompassed in her hands.

A pang of sadness hit Gertie that her friends knew her well enough to assume that she was not ecstatic to be back. Truthfully, not a lot of her life was left here anymore, and some of the memories were really painful, so to her it made sense why she chose to stay away. Still, though, she didn't like being known as the girl who hated her hometown.

"Yeah yeah, I'm a flight risk I get it, but I'm here now so give me some credit”. She chuckled.

As if a lightbulb had lit over his head, Nick's eyebrows went up and he looked at the unidentified woman at the table.  
“Oh, I'm so sorry. Gert, this is Kim, my wife.” He stated proudly.

Gertie's eyes opened wide. “Right! I heard you got married, congratulations! It's nice to meet you, Kim.” Gertie waved across the table.

“You too. I'm glad you're finally here, the three of them have been telling me so many stories from your school days, you guys really raised some hell eh?"  
"We sure did!” Nick whooped and went to high five Grace, who begrudgingly indulged him.

"Well hopefully, you got it all out of your system then, because we're really gonna have to buckle down once the baby comes.” Kim spouted.

“BABY?! Nick, you're gonna be a dad!?”Gertie threw her hands up in disbelief.

"That's the plan partner."

"That's so great, I'm so happy for you guys.” Gertie felt her throat tighten and the threat of tears cresting her eyes, time seemed to be flying by in their lives, and her friends seemed to be really doing well which made the warm feeling in her chest swell to be even larger.

As if she sensed the near tear-inducing moment, Mary May joined the conversation and set down a tray of snacks and a few shots of whiskey for the group (and a coke for Kim). 

"Let's toast… to coming home.” Mary May raised a shot, along with Grace and Nick, they all knocked it back before Gert could blink. She quickly grabbed her drink and gulped it down, feeling the subtle burn in the back of her throat, she set the glass down on the table with a clink, then turned to look at Grace.

"So Grace, what have you been up to while I've been away?"

“Oh you know, keeping the citizen's in line, keeping my shooting chops up."  
“Good to hear the people around here have you looking out for them.” Gertie smiled softly.

They went back and forth like this for the rest of the night, telling old stories about almost getting busted behind the high school with booze, Sharky setting things on fire, the Hope County haunted house where Nick definitely didn't wet himself after being scared by a jump out zombie.

After a few more hours and shots of whiskey Gertie was ready for bed, she said goodbye to the gang and shuffled upstairs to the guest room Mary May had been kind enough to let her stay in. She was feeling buzzed but still had the wherewithal to change into her pj's and set an alarm for the next morning. As her head hit the pillow, she smiled lazily thinking about the good old days as she drifted to sleep.


	3. Warning Signs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a good time with her friends, Mary May gives Gertie some unsettling advice about Eden's Gate

Gertie woke up to her alarm beeping beside her head, her eyes blinked open and there was a slight throbbing in her head from the drinks the night before.

She still had a couple of hours before the meet and greet with Eden's gate, so she pulled herself out of bed, took a shower, got dressed and headed down to the bar.   
Mary May was already down there, she always was an early riser like her dad. She wondered why she hadn't seen him around yet.

"Hey sunshine, how're you feeling?"

“Fine, a little hungover, but nothing too bad. Maybe I can use it as a fallback excuse if that get together today gets too weird."

“Yeah, Gert, I've been meaning to talk to you about that.” She paused for a long enough time to make Gertie nervous. "I think you should be careful with those people today, like really careful."

“What are you trying to freak me out or something? Cause it’s working. What specifically do you mean Mary?"

“I don't know really know, it's just that Eden's Gate just sprung up outta nowhere, everybody seems to be drinking the Kool-Aid without really knowing what they're all about, they're making everybody nervous. And their leader, Joseph Seed is as creepy as they come, along with his brothers, they're just the whole unsettling package."

"Why didn't you guys mention this last night?"

“Because we didn't want to worry you or ruin your homecoming. They're probably harmless, but they've just been doing a lot of weird things around the county.

“Weird how? Like wearing Viking hats riding horses in the middle of town?"

Mary May let out a laugh. "No, like trying to buy everyone's land, and getting into arguments with people about religion. Even my dad had a scuffle with the youngest brother John about buying the bar. John threatened him after he said no and my dad's been nervous about the whole situation ever since."

“Do you think Whitney's in danger or something?"

“Honestly, couldn't tell ya for sure.” There was a long silence before Mary spoke up again. "Look I'm not trying to scare you, just keep your eyes open and be ready to get out of there with Whitney if something... if anything gets wonky."

Just then the door to the bar swung open and a small group of college-age kids came strutting in, Mary May had to serve them leaving Gertie alone with her thoughts. 

Was her sister safe with those people? Was this some sort of crazy cult like Jonestown? Was this a rescue mission for her, rather than a nice visit to her sister? All of these questions ran through her mind until she resolved to just go to the event and get the answers she needed in person.

She waved bye to Mary May, threw her messenger bag over her shoulder and hastily walked out the door.


	4. Reunion at the Gates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gertie finally arrives at Eden's Gate compound.

Gertie mulled over Mary May’s words on the drive over to the church, she hoped she wouldn’t be forced into a hostile situation with the project and was anxious to get there. Her sister had texted her the address, but she knew where the church was by memory. She remembered Pastor Jerome had started preaching there before he moved his congregation to Falls End, and her mother would visit him there often for advice with both sisters in tow, so her directions to the place were ingrained in her brain.

When she pulled up to the lot, she was shocked by all the cars around, it looked like after parking their cars everyone was flocking towards the main gate, but it hadn’t been opened yet. It was a larger crowd than what she had expected.

“Jeez, you’d think it was the second coming of Christ or something.” Gertie said as she stepped out of her car and slammed the door. 

She walked towards the gate with everyone else and pulled out her phone to check the time. 10am on the dot.

Looking ahead she suddenly saw a man in a black vest and pants, with a blue shirt underneath approach the gates from the church. His hair was slicked back and his beard was well kept, he looked well put together, handsome even. He was flanked by two other gentlemen wearing white sweaters and black jeans. They opened the gate, but didn’t seem to be letting anyone through. 

“Hello everyone!” The man said with a toothy grin. “My name is John Seed, I’m one of the purveyors of the Project at Eden’s Gate. We’re so happy that all of you have joined us for a fun day of activities and seeing your loved ones and we hope that you enjoy yourselves today. Now we know that many of you are excited to see your friends and relatives, but we do have one simple request for the day today before we begin.”

Gertie and a few other people in the crowd looked puzzled as the bearded man continued.

“We understand that there may be differences of opinions when it comes to the religion base of our family, but we would ask that you be respectful and non-judgmental when you enter our gates. Please be aware that any aggression towards our followers or your family today will not be tolerated under any circumstances.” John’s eyes narrowed a bit at the crowd.

Gertie noticed his voice got a bit of an edge to it in saying that last part, almost as if it were a threat. 

There was some grumbling in the crowd, but nobody spoke up loud enough to argue, or to cause any sort of scene.

Seeming satisfied that everyone was on the same page John continued. “Well with that out of the way, without further ado, Welcome to Eden’s Gate!” He said with is arms spread wide to indicate to everyone they could enter, and the crowd started to shuffle in.

Gertie broke off from the rest of the crowd as they came to a small clearing of grass and picnic tables that bordered a lake, everything looked picturesque. She noticed there were small clusters of people in huddles, all wearing the same color scheme, around the area. They all looked very happy to be there. Once people started finding their relatives there was a lot of emotions in the air, people were hugging, some crying, laughing together, some even seemed to be arguing. Gertie carefully scanned the crowd for her sister, when she was suddenly hugged from behind.

“What the hell?!” Gertie spun around to see the face of her Sister Whitney smiling bright.

“Hey sis, fancy meeting you here.” She laughed.

Gertie cackled in laughter and hugged her sister close and tight, it had been a long time since she’d seen her, and at that moment it didn’t matter the weird circumstance or location of their reunion- she was just happy to have her best friend near again.

“Have you gotten taller?” Gertie said as she pulled away from the hug.

“I don’t think so, I just stand a little taller these days, confidence you know?”

“Well it looks good on you.” She looked her sister up and down. “I’m so glad to see you Wayne.”

“Me too Garth. Come on I want you to meet everyone.”

The next hour was spent meeting all of Whitney’s friends in the project, most were nice, albeit a little quiet for some reason. Some were a little too intense for her liking - talking about sin and the pervasiveness of it all, but generally, they were pleasant. They were sitting on the grass by the lake drinking lemonade together when Gertie scanned the land and noticed there seemed to be a line coming from the church. She turned to Whitney.

“Hey, what’s going on over there?” Nodding her head in the direction of the line.

“That’s the line to meet the organizers of the project. The Seed family. I didn’t want to force you to go, but I’d really like to introduce you.”

“Whit, I’m glad to be here, you can have me meet whoever you think I should, I want to see your life here.”

Whitney’s smile grew bigger as she popped up, grabbed Gertie’s hand and pulled her towards the church.

They stood in line for about 30 minutes, before they were next in line to meet the Seeds. She knew the man on the far right was John Seed, the man from earlier, to the right next to him was a short woman wearing a white dress with dirty blond hair who seemed very happy to be there. In the center there was a shirtless man with tattoos across his skin with a man bun and aviators, then next to him on the far left was a hulking figure of a man with a patch of red hair, wearing an army jacket that clearly hadn’t been washed in some time. They certainly seemed like an interesting bunch.

When it came to be their turn, Whitney stepped forward and bowed her head a little bit, speaking directly to the shirtless man. 

“Hello Father, thank you for meeting with us today, I’d like to present my sister Gertie to all of you.” Whitney turned and beamed at Gertie who gave an awkward smile and a wave.

The shirtless man looked between the two sisters and a soft smile came across his face. There was kindness in his eyes, but also something else Gertie couldn’t quite put her finger on.

“Hello sister Whitney, I’m so happy a member of your family was able to come today, it’s an absolute pleasure to meet you Gertie. I’m Joseph. Joseph Seed.”


	5. Meeting the Seeds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gertie meets the Seed family, and has an interesting lunch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading if you are still around. Obviously, any constructive criticism is welcome.

“Tell me child, what do you know of our teachings?” Joseph said taking Gertie’s hand and making very uncomfortable prolonged eye contact.

“Not much really, Whitney tells me that you’re all very accepting and like a big family here which seems nice, but as per any teachings or values we haven’t really discussed that very much. She knows I’m not really religious myself so she probably didn’t think it’d be a successful conversation.” She said with a bit of a laugh.

“A yes, indifference, a sin like any other, something many of us have had to atone for.” This statement suddenly coming out of the man she knew as John Seed.

Joseph shot John a look. “Now brother, best not to scare away our guest with such talk.” Joseph said still holding Gertie’s hand. “But where are my manners, let me introduce you to the family, and perhaps you can join our mass later to get a full picture of the plans of the project.”

Gertie simply nodded her head and smiled at him.

“This is my brother John”. Pointing as he spoke. ”My sister Faith, and my brother Jacob.” They all nodded in acknowledgement of the greeting, but stayed silent.

“Well, we don’t want to take any more of your time Father, we’ll get out of your hair, and we’ll see you at the mass later.” Whitney piped up, looking a little rushed and shy all of a sudden.

“Yes, we’ll see you and your lovely sister later, have a blessed day my children.” Joseph said as he let go of Gertie’s hand.

“Nice meeting all of you.” She said as Whitney pulled her out the side exit church door.

Before taking the next people in line, Joseph stepped closer to Jacob, clearly wanting to tell him something privately, Jacob lowered his head to listen closely.  
“It would be very nice if Sister Whitney’s guest decided to stay with us permanently after today, please do whatever is needed to ensure that is what happens brother.”

“Of course, Joseph.”  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
“Sooo, what did you think, aren’t they cool?”

“Yeah that’s one word for it, I mean truthfully they were a little odd, and what was that John guy talking about atonement for, that was a little creepy.”

“They’re just intense, they really believe in the project and want other people to believe it too, don’t be worried.”

“Yeah, okay.” Gertie looked a little concerned, but put on a smile to appease Whitney.

Gertie noticed that the line at the church was gone now, and that the Seed family were walking out towards the groups on the grass. Joseph spoke to the crowd as they approached.

“Hello everyone, please join us in the cafeteria for a lovely lunch prepared by our family. Please follow us.”

The crowd followed the Seeds into a large covered rec center of sorts. It was a standard high school style cafeteria. It was a buffet style set up, it looked like a roast pig was the main course, with potatoes, green beans and various other sides, they went up and got their food and decided to sit near the center of the room together. After a few minutes of talking they were suddenly surrounded by the Seed family sitting around them at the same table.

Gertie was a little annoyed at this, she wanted to talk to her sister about the Seeds a little more, but now she couldn’t do that, so she just gave a them a sweeping glance and smiled at them as they sat down.

“I hope it’s alright if we sit here, I so enjoyed our conversation at the church and wanted to get to know more about you Gertie.” Joseph said softly.

“Yes of course, you’re welcome to sit.” Gertie said in her fake nice voice.

“Where do you live currently?” Joseph asked taking a bite of his roast.

“Missoula, I’m a surgeon at the Valley Regional there.”

All members of the Seed family seemed to pause and look at her, looking surprised.

“You’re a doctor? That’s amazing!” Asked Faith in a cheery voice.

“It’s certainly impressive.” John muttered looking up from his food.

“Kind of young to be a surgeon aren’t you?” Jacob’s slightly raspy voice came at her from the left.

“Thanks, and maybe I suppose, I don’t really keep track of the standard ages of surgeons.” Gertie chuckled a bit as she acknowledged the family’s questions.

“It’s just very nice to know that you care for people and make them well again.” Joseph said closing the topic and giving a stern look at Jacob.

They continued to eat their meals, Gertie occasionally sharing information about their upbringing, about their mother’s recent passing, and plans for the rest of her trip. The family seemed to be taking on a specific interest in her for whatever reason, but she played nice to make sure she didn’t make things difficult for her sister after she left in a couple of hours.

“Well it’s about time for my sermon, we must go and prepare, it was lovely speaking with you both again.” The family all picked up their plates and walked out together as a group, bidding the sisters goodbye.

“They seem to really like you, that’s cool right?” Whitney said excitedly.

“I guess…but why? It’s not like I’m a member.”

“Did you want to be? It would mean you could stay here with me and live with some cool people who’ll look out for you. Sure it gets a little boring sometimes, but at least you’d be closer.”

Gertie sighed and took Whitney’s hands in hers. “Look Whit, I’m glad you’ve found a place here, and everyone seems nice enough, but the whole religion thing, atoning, sinful shaming behavior just aren’t me. I’m sorry, of course I want to be closer to you, but I can’t give up my life in Missoula for this. Do you understand?”

Whitney smiled solemnly. “Yeah I understand, but a girl can hope right?” She reached forward to hug Gertie and they stayed like that for a while before being herded out of the cafeteria and into the church for the sermon.


	6. Saying goodbye (or at least that was the plan)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gertie says goodbye to her sister and makes her leave from Eden's Gate.

The church was too small to fit everyone into it, people had to stand in the back and some halfway out of the church doors. There was also no A/C which made it even more uncomfortable. Gertie and Whitney were able to get seats near the back right of the church, gaining a stink eye from a few people in taking the seats.

Joseph was the first one on the stage when the sermon began, then all three siblings followed, but sat on chairs in the back of the pulpit watching the crowd. Gertie really only half listened to Joseph speak his teachings during the presentation, but she had to admit the man had a clear effect on the room. People were tearing up, holding their hands above their heads, humming along with some of the songs that were eventually sung by the choir and so on. The whole sermon had a very “the end is nigh” vibe to it, but that actually didn’t freak Gertie out to much, the apocalypse was a pretty common thread in all religions and it’s not like there was any purple Kool-Aid being wheeled out.

Even though she wasn’t fully listening, every time Gertie looked at Joseph, he seemed to be looking at her intensely, but she figured it was just a parlor trick that really good public speakers had to entice their audiences. She would smile at him whenever they made eye contact, and he would eventually move his eyes to another direction. She did notice that near the end of the sermon that Jacob got up and left the stage through the side door, which seemed odd to her, but only for a moment.

After the sermon was done, it was indicated that the meet and greet was coming to a close and that it was time to say their goodbyes, of course, if anyone wanted to stay to hear more about the project they were welcome to, but it was starting to get quite dark out so they suggested anyone wanting to leave should probably do so with haste.

Whitney and Gertie linked arms out of the church and headed towards the main gates where Gertie came with her car. They stopped at the entrance, they were the only ones around surprisingly.

“You sure you don’t wanna stay?” Whitney said, half whining.

“I love you Whit, and again I’m happy for you, but it’s just not really my thing. How about this. I’ll promise to come and see you more often. It looks like the Seeds like me, it probably would be okay for me to come around again.” Gertie said hopefully. “Why don’t you ask them and let me know what they say, then we’ll arrange some days coming up for me to come and see you again.”

“I’d love that, I’ll ask them tomorrow, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Okay, sounds good, I love you Wayne, and I know mom would be happy that you found some good people to be around, no matter how weird they are.” Gertie said as she pulled her sister into the tightest hug of the day.

“Love you too Garth, and thank you.” Whitney said, voice cracking slightly.

They both pulled back and wiped away the trace of tears in their eyes. Gertie knew she’d ball her eyes out on the ride back to the Spread Eagle, but she didn’t want her sister to see her upset.

“Drive safe, and say hi to Mary May for me.”

“I will, have a good night sis, talk soon.” Gertie said with a smile.

They both headed off in opposite directions, seemingly a small metaphor of how their lives were going, Gertie opened the flap to her bag to get her keys. She walked over to her car amongst the small sea of them in the lot and stuck the key in the lock.

Suddenly she felt a strong arm wrap around her waist and pull her back and before she could scream a cloth was shoved over her mouth as blackness suddenly took over her vision.


End file.
